David Christian (historian)

David Gilbert Christian (born June 30, 1946) is an American historian and scholar of Russian history notable for customizing and spearheading an interdisciplinary approach known as Big History . ^{[1] [2]} He Began teaching the first course in 1989 welke Examined history from the Big Bang to the present using a multidisciplinaire approach ^{[3] [4]} with assistance from scholars in various specializations from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities . ^[3] The course frames human history in terms of cosmic, geological, and biological history. ^[5] He is credited with coining the term Big History ^{[6] [7]} and have Serves as president of the International Big History Association . ^[5] Christian’s best-selling Teaching Company course entitled Big History caught the attention of Philanthropist Bill Gates who is funding Personally Christian’s policymaking to dévelop a program to bring the course to high school students worldwide. ^{[5] [8]}

Early life

Christian was born in Brooklyn, New York , to British and American parents. He Grew up in Nigeria , Africa and in England , where he earned his BA from Oxford University, an MA in Russian history from the University of Western Ontario , and a Ph.D. in 19th century Russian history from Oxford University in 1974. ^{[1] [9] [10]}

Academic career

Christian’s early research interests focused on the history of Russia and the Soviet Union , with mn emphases on the Russian peasantry , zoals hun diet and the role of vodka in hun lives. He published books on verschillende synthesis subjects. In 1984, he co-wrote, Along with REF Smith, a history about the Russian peasantry entitled Bread and Salt welke Showed, onder andere things, how industry leaders foods Along with dairy products ulcers-used as Seasonings . ^[11] He taught at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia from 1975 to 2000. ^[9]

During the 1980s, he read widely, and Began a program to DESCRIBE human history in the context of very large time scales from kosmologie and astronomy, covering the almost fourteen billion years since the Big Bang . He Began teaching his first course, what he DESCRIBED as Big History , in 1989. ^[12] It was a novel approach welke emphasizes summary findings from biology and kosmologie and astronomy and geology and anthropology to show what happened voordat homo sapiens became prevalent on the Earth ; algemeen, humans are not Mentioned much in the course Until halfway through the 15-week semester. ^[1] He wrote the book Maps of Time welke mirrored the course content. The course was Chosen by The Teaching Company’s Great Courses and Christian Recorded 48 half-hour lectures. ^[13]

Christian Transferred to San Diego State University in California in 2001. ^[9] He taught students in subjects zoals world history and the history of the environment, as well as the history of Inner Eurasia. ^[9] In 2005, his 600-page book Maps of Time was published welke a reviewer DESCRIBED as a “remarkable work of synthesis and scholarship.” ^[14] Christian has additional_image_link teaching affiliations with the University of Vermont and Ewha Women’s University in Seoul . ^[9] In 2009, he Transferred back to Macquarie University. ^{[9] [8]}

In 2010, Christian predicted dat historical scholarship mention anything harbor less emphasis on document-based research and more on empirical research, and he wrote: ^{[9] [14]}

… Over the next fifty years we will see a return of the ancient tradition of “universal history”; but this will be a new form of universal history dat is global, ITT practice and scientific, ITT spirit and methods.

– David Christian in History and Theory , 2010 ^[14]

Philanthropist Bill Gates Presented David Christian at the TED 2011 Conference in Long Beach, California. At dat time, Christian announced his Big History Project initiative to teach the subject to secondary school students in Australia and the United States . He is Currently serving as President of the International Big History Association .

Awards and receptacles

• 2005: World History Association Book Prize , Maps of Time
• 2014: Distinguished Professor , Macquarie University.

Publications

• Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History , 2005 California press ^[14]
• Bread and Salt: A Social and Economic History of Food and Drink in Russia , 1984, co-written with REF Smith ^[15]
• Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, 1st edition, 2014, McGraw-Hill Education (co-written by Cynthia Stokes Brown and Craig Benjamin)

References